5 responses to “Audio of “The Typology of David’s Rise to Power””

So, I can see most of the links that you are seeing, but I’m having a hard to seeing it’s significance for today. In order for this type of study to be profitable, it seems to me that you’ve got to take it beyond the simple demonstration of correspondence. Am I mistaken in seeing the benefit of a typological interpretation move beyond Christ’s death and ressurection to Christ’s body the church? Suffering servant and Spirit-filled temple sure seem to work here, and are quite relavent and applicable.

Also, you seem to be equating a typological interpretation with biblical theology, whereas it seems the typology is just one subset of a more robust biblical theology. I know Abraham’s offering of Isaac is typical, but there is also so much propositional correspondence that needs to be worked.

Thanks for your note. On the significance of typology for today, briefly, I would say that our goal is to read the world through the lenses given to us by the Bible (as opposed to reading the Bible through the lenses given to us by the world). This means that once we rightly understand the Bible’s typology, we identify ourselves with the people involved. Are we identified with David and his followers, and thus with Jesus and his followers, or are we identified with Saul and those opposed to David, and thus with the enemies of God and his purposes?

Hans Frei suggested that Biblical Theology was the modern replacement of typological interpretation, and I’m inclined to think he’s right. . . thought I grant your point that it might be better to think of Biblical Theology as an umbrella term under which Typology can be classed.